Euro24: Italy steal win v Croatia in last second to reach next round , Spain beat Albania

 

The villain became a hero in a minute!  But at the end of the day, Luka Modric had to leave the field with his head down.  Modric put Croatia ahead with a goal seconds after missing a penalty.  Mattia Zaccani paid it off moments before the end of the game.  Spain topped the group with nine points after beating Albania in the other match.  Second-placed  Italy have four points from three games.  Croatia remained on two points from three matches.  The other team will have to look to reach the knockouts.  But they are practically knocked out.

 From the beginning, Italy's game was a bit sluggish.  They kept control of the ball at their feet.  But could not create a chance to score.  The memories of their previous defeat by Spain seemed to be still lingering in their minds.  Croatia emphasized every attack.  Gradually they started to take possession of the ball.

 Italy was determined not to let the defence break down in any way.  As a result, when the Croatian footballers moved towards the box with the ball, at least five Italians were coming to block it.  Italy had a good chance in between.  Niccolò Barella received the ball just outside the box from a corner.  He took up the cross.  Alessandro Bastoni stood blank.  Croatia's goalkeeper Dominic Livakovic saved his powerful header.  Croatia countered.  Gianluigi Donnarumma blocked Luka Suchic's left-footed shot from outside the box.

  Both teams wanted to attack .  But nobody was able to create chances due to wrong passes.  As a result, the ball was moving in the middle.

Croatia's attacks increased in the second half.  They looked more determined than Italy.  A few minutes later, Croatia got a penalty.  Andrej Kramaric's cross from the left was met by Davide Frattesi in the box and changed direction.  Although the referee did not give a penalty at first, he changed the decision after watching the replay on the advice of 'Var'.

 Modric wasted that opportunity.  Low shot towards Donnarumma to the left.  The Italian goalkeeper dived to his left and saved the shot.  Italy was a bit complacent at the time.   Despite Donnarumma's save, Italy's footballers did not show interest in attacking immediately.  Croatia gets the ball in no time.  Donnarumma saves Ante Budimir's cross from the right.  But fell to the ground.  Modric, who was trailing behind, curled the ball into the net with a left-footed shot before golie standing up.

 After that, Italy had many chances but could not score.  It was not thought that they would score at the last minute.  There was less than a minute left in the match.  Riccardo Calafiori's pass was picked up by Zaccani.  Hit the ball in the net with perfect placement.  Croatia's dream was shattered by this one goal.

On the other hand, Spain coach Luis de la Fuente did not want to take any risk in this match as the last sixteen was confirmed.  He radically changed Italy's match team.  Aymeric kept none other than Laporte.  He also changed the goalkeeper.  Spain did not have much advantage in the beginning.  Albania looked much more desperate to stay in the competition.  From the beginning they started attacking.

 Ten minutes passed before Spain took possession of the game.  They created two scoring opportunities within 12 minutes.  Merino took a shot from Jesus Navas' cross.  Albanian goalkeeper Strakosha saved it.  Joselu's header from Laporte's cross flew narrowly over the bar.

 It took 14 minutes for Spain to go ahead.  Dani Olmo found plenty of space in front and ran and crossed to Ferran Torres.  So perfect was the pass that Torres took his time and slotted the ball into the net.  After that, Spain went back to their game.  Control of the ball returns to their feet.  They did not give Albania a chance in the first half.

 Albania didn't get that chance in the second half either.  It is good to say that Spain did not give a chance.  They put the ball at their control.  Albania took possession of the ball at times but failed to capitalize on any attack.